Roughly two dozen protesters—and an almost equal number of reporters—gathered in St. James Park on Monday to mark Occupy Toronto‘s one year anniversary. The gathering, which featured all the flags, dogs, signs, and acoustic guitars that people have come to expect from the Occupy movement, felt like part protest and part class reunion. “The goal […]

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Protesters gather at St. James Park on Monday. Photo by {a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/photopia/8092688906/in/pool-341900@N21/"}HiMY SYeD{/a}, from the {a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/torontoist/pool/"}Torontoist Flickr Pool{/a}.

Roughly two dozen protesters—and an almost equal number of reporters—gathered in St. James Park on Monday to mark Occupy Toronto‘s one year anniversary. The gathering, which featured all the flags, dogs, signs, and acoustic guitars that people have come to expect from the Occupy movement, felt like part protest and part class reunion.

“The goal for me is to just see old friends,” said Occupier Christopher Lambe. “I think this is a day where people are going to come to this park for years to come, for the rest of my life—to reconnect with all these old people and think about those 40 days. Because a lot happens when you’re living in such a small space with 200 other people, and it hasn’t really been done, and it was pretty interesting.”

Lambe said that no one organized the anniversary celebration, but that it developed in typical Occupy fashion out of a consensus in their online community. “We threw it out there and said ‘What do you want to do?'” he said. “’Do you want to come here and have an artful display? Make music, do paintings, have an art installation, and chat and reminisce?’ And everyone wiggled their fingers and said ‘Yeah!’ So we put it up on Facebook and did what we did.”

He added that the anniversary celebration was much more artistically minded than the original protest, with plays, music, and collaborative visual-art pieces. “Last year, roaming around with a bunch of signs and yelling our faces off didn’t really get the message across in the way we wanted it to, so this is probably a better way,” he said. “There’s going to be a play in the gazebo, and the script is all verbatim things that were said in the park over the 40 days. A journalist gathered all the quotes and put them together. So it’s our story, put together in a much better way than we could do it.”

While Lambe was upbeat about the gathering, other Occupiers were less sunny. Heidi Stoecklin was one of the members of Aurorans for World Peace who came down to commemorate Occupy Toronto. She blamed, among other things, the corporately-owned media for the poor turnout.

“The media didn’t give us any sort of lead-up or any sort of credit. If they’d talked about it, there would be way more people here,” she said, adding that some former Occupiers probably had their spirits broken in the past twelve months.

“The media is not there for the people, and the police are not there for the people. We saw a lot of the will of the people diminished in that time. The world saw that the corporations and the coppers and our fascist police state will win.”

Fellow protester Sonny Yeung seemed to disagree. He pointed out that many of the movement’s concerns have gained traction with governments over the last year.

“I think some of our issues have been addressed,” he said. “In Ontario, the NDP was able to pressure the Liberals so that those making more than $500,000 will be paying a 2 per cent surtax; in Quebec, the PQ government is interested in taxing the wealthy; and in the States, if Obama is reelected, he’ll let the Bush tax cuts expire.”

Lambe said that, 12 months after the fact, his major takeaway from Occupy Toronto has been this: Change doesn’t come from political systems. It comes from people.

“The solution to our problems isn’t about demanding change, or demanding something from those in politics. It’s about demanding something from ourselves; a more open heart, a more charitable heart, a more benevolent heart. It’s about changing within ourselves and who we are as a society.”

Tuesday’s May Day protests and re-Occupation continued on into Wednesday as roughly 75 demonstrators, some of whom had camped out over night in Simcoe Park, protested Barrick Gold’s annual general meeting at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Toronto-based Barrick is the world’s largest gold-mining firm, and has been criticized for both its environmental practices and […]

Tuesday’s May Day protests and re-Occupation continued on into Wednesday as roughly 75 demonstrators, some of whom had camped out over night in Simcoe Park, protested Barrick Gold’s annual general meeting at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The event was, for the most part, relatively low key, with protesters listening to speeches from environmental activists and representatives of people affected by Barrick’s overseas operations. The lone moment of excitement came when the group crossed the street in an attempt to confront Barrick shareholders. They had heard that shareholders were being directed to leave via the Intercontinental Hotel, though when they arrived, they were greeted by a line of police, but few others. Undeterred, they stood outside the hotel for roughly 20 minutes while chanting slogans and delivering amplified speeches.

Sakura Saunders is both a member of Occupy Toronto and the co-editor of Protest Barrick, a web site dedicated to drawing attention to the company’s environmental and human rights record. She says that the fact her group didn’t get to speak to any shareholders is not a failure, but proof that they’re doing something right. “We went down there in force and we’re chanting very loudly with loudspeakers into the Intercontinental Hotel, and not very many shareholders came out, and I can only assume they redirected them to another entrance,” she said. “But when the shareholders have to be escorted by police and entrances have to be shut off, then you know we’re doing our job, because of the great lengths they’re going to to avoid the truth.”

Inside the AGM, a protest of a different sort was taking place: two protesters attended the AGM as proxies for shareholders. They both read statements from people who say they have had their lives dramatically altered as a result of Barrick’s operations. (A third protester, who had travelled from a Barrick-affected community in Tanzania, also attempted to attend the meeting as a proxy, but wasn’t allowed in.) One of those proxies, Pieter Basedow, a member of Science for Peace, says that while the protest outside the meeting was important, it’s equally important for concerned parties to be representatives inside the meeting.

“Shareholder activism is something that’s very effective in Europe,” he said. “I come from Germany originally, and I sat on the board of several companies in Germany. This is something that needs to be done outside of the [traditional] protests. The shareholders and pension funds need to know.”

Saunders said that, while she has been protesting Barrick’s AGM and bringing in representatives of affected communities for five years, she’s never seen this much media attention at a Barrick protest before, something she can only attribute to Protest Barrick’s teaming up with Occupy.

“We’re really thankful for the support of the Occupy movement,” she said. “Impacted communities have been coming to Barrick shareholder meetings…but the press ignores them. But for some reason, with Occupy here, we get the necessary attention to these communities speaking about their experiences living next to the mines. We’re so thankful that we’ve gotten more presence than we’ve ever gotten before.”

Tuesday’s May Day protests, organized by a variety of groups—including No One is Illegal, the May 1st Movement, and Occupy Toronto—had a little something for everyone. For those who like to mix their politics with a sense of whimsy, there was a giant human chess game, as well as some guerilla gardening. Fans of fiery […]

Toronto streetcars are delayed on Queen Street West as Occupy Toronto protestors march in the downtown core of the city as part of their planned May Day activities. Police Officers in yellow jackets rode along with bicycles to ensure public safety. <br />
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<em>Christopher Drost/Torontoist</em>

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A steady stream of approximately one thousand Occupy Toronto protestors along Queen Street West as they marched to the site of their hoped-for camp as part of planned May Day activities. <br />
<br />
<em>Christopher Drost/Torontoist</em>

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Occupy Toronto protestors arrive at Simcoe park and hold a general assembly with intention to occupy, directly across the street from the Metro Toronto Convention Center where Barrick Gold Corporation will be holding their annual general meeting May 2, 2012.<br />
<br />
<em>Christopher Drost/Torontoist</em>

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{"credit":"Christopher Drost\/ZUMAPRESS.COM","caption":"Occupy Toronto protestors including some sporting Guy Falkes masks arrive at Simcoe Park with intention to stay. The park is located directly across from Metro Toronto Convention Center where Barrick Gold Corporation will be holding their annual general meeting May 2, 2012.","created_timestamp":"1335941845","copyright":"\u00a92012 DROST\/SHiFT","title":"Toronto May Day - ReOccupy Toronto"}

An Occupy Toronto protestor, attempting to set up a tent reacts as Toronto Police enforce the bylaw forbidding any structures be erected in Simcoe Square. The protest camp is directly across the street from the Metro Toronto Convention Center where Barrick Gold Corporation will be holding their annual general meeting May 2, 2012. <br />
<br />
<em>Christopher Drost/Torontoist</em>

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{"credit":"Christopher Drost\/ZUMAPRESS.COM","caption":"Occupy Toronto protestors arrive at Simcoe park with intention to stay, directly across the street from the Metro Toronto Convention Center where Barrick Gold Corporation will be holding their annual general meeting May 2, 2012.","created_timestamp":"1335942124","copyright":"\u00a92012 DROST\/SHiFT","title":"Toronto May Day - ReOccupy Toronto"}

Tuesday’s May Day protests, organized by a variety of groups—including No One is Illegal, the May 1st Movement, and Occupy Toronto—had a little something for everyone.

For those who like to mix their politics with a sense of whimsy, there was a giant human chess game, as well as some guerilla gardening. Fans of fiery speeches would have had more than their fill at the Nathan Phillips Square rally, while people who feel that any good revolution involves dancing would have been impressed by the constant pounding of anti-capitalist samba group Rhythms of Resistance. If, on the other hand, you just wanted some non-violent civil disobedience ending in arrest, there was some of that, too.

Lighter Fare

May Day—also known as International Workers’ Day—kicked off at 11 a.m. with the Occupy-sponsored Operation Chess Magik, a human chess game/performance that took place in a largely empty Nathan Phillips Square. Naturally, the game ended with the pawns banding together, rising up, and turning on those who attempt to play them against each other.

According to Occupy’s Lana Goldberg, Chess Magik was born out of a desire to show the exploitation of working people in a creative, unexpected way.

“It seemed like a good idea to take a game where there’s a king and a queen and pawns, because that’s how the one per cent act,” she said. “[It seems like] the rules are set, you can only move in certain directions, the king is the most powerful… but actually when people come together, they have the power to take control.”

Chess Magik was followed by the Occupy Garden Party. Half meal break, half guerilla gardening exercise, it saw a few dozen protesters break bread on Queen’s Park’s south lawn, before heading to the north lawn to dump several bags of topsoil on the ground and plant crops while singing “Give Peas a Chance.”

“We wanted to bring people together…in a celebration of life, but also to raise awareness of food issues, and also to inspire people to join us in planting no less than 99 gardens around the city today,” said Garden Party co-organizer Jacob Kearey-Moreland. “We’ve got grandmas, little kids, people from every age and background getting dirty in the gardens today.”

Rallies, Marches, Songs

Operation Chess Magik and the Garden Party may have only attracted a few dozen protesters, but the rally at Nathan Phillips Square and subsequent march to Alexandria Park attracted a few thousand.

Speakers from No One is Illegal, the May 1st Movement, Stop the Cuts, Afghans for Peace, and several other organizations whipped up the crowd with speeches denouncing a wide variety of injustices, including “imperialist wars,” austerity measures, racist immigration policies, and a lack of respect for workers’ rights. The crowd was also repeatedly reminded that this protest, as well as everything else in the city, was taking place on land stolen from native peoples.

After the speeches had concluded and a massive banner had been dropped from the pedestrian bridge above Queen Street, the rally turned into a march. The massive, slow-moving parade from the Square to the park wound its way west along Queen Street, up Spadina, then west on Dundas, led by a colour guard holding various First Nations flags and accompanied by the percussive soundtrack of Rhythms of Resistance, and also protest chants that were occasionally too long to be effective. (“Lock up [Immigration Minister Jason] Kenney, throw away the keys. Justice for immigrants, freedom for refugees,” was just too much for a call-and-response chant.) The procession stopped every few minutes, usually to allow the back of the march to catch up. At Queen and Spadina everyone paused for a fifteen-minute mini sit-in and some chalk drawing.

At Alexandria Park, the protesters were treated to a wide variety of musical entertainment, including revolutionary raps, acoustic Cee-Lo covers and more drumming.

Occupy’s Sakura Saunders says the march and rally exceeded expectations.

“Turnout today was amazing,” she said. “We had three-to-five thousand in the streets, and that was great. That’s the biggest May Day we’ve ever had.”

Saunders says that Occupy was happy to give the assist to No One is Illegal, who have been organizing May Day celebrations in Toronto for the last six years.

“We’re always having people come to our general assemblies and ask if we can endorse such and such a march,” she said. “Generally there’s a little bit of discussion, but most of the time we say yes and show up with an Occupy contingent…It’s an open space that we’re creating, so people can come into that space and get support for whatever social injustice they’re trying to remedy.”

Re-Occupation

Shortly after 9 p.m., the protest took to the streets again, accompanied by a huge number of police. This time, the crowd headed south and east towards the still-undisclosed re-occupation site. They came to a stop at Simcoe Park, a small park on Front Street, across from the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The Convention Centre will play host to Barrick Gold’s Annual General Meeting later today, a meeting Occupy plans to protest due to Barrick’s history of questionable environmental practices and displacing people near their mine sites.

Police warned protesters that they would not be allowed to set up tents in the park, due to a City bylaw that bans camping and the erection of structures there. After much people’s-mic-enabled discussion of how to proceed—one suggestion was that people should simply stand and hold a tarp in the air while other people slept underneath it—some of the oldest occupiers opted to test the police officers’ resolve and take matters in to their own hands. The Occupy chaplains attempted to erect a chapel tent in the middle of the park, and after ignoring a police command to stop, all three were arrested. The arrest prompted the crowd to cry “Shame,” and things like, “Your children are fucking embarrassed of you,” to the police, who hustled the three senior protesters away.

“Two women and one man were charged with engaging in a prohibited act,” said Constable Tony Vella. “They’ve been arrested. They’re going to be charged with a provincial offence—it’s not a Criminal Code offence—and issued a fine.”

Occupy’s Ben Hirsch says the occupation was a success, not only in spite of the arrests, but also because of them.

“It’s so inspiring that three of our eldest members here today—chaplains, people of God, peaceful people…made that decision really consciously,” he said. “It’s a flawed system, and it’s ridiculous that this is a crime, but within that system, they made that decision [to get arrested] and they’re OK with it, and I’m OK with it.”

With just four activists speaking to roughly a dozen members of the media (and one confused security guard) from behind a plexiglass podium, this morning’s announcement of the Toronto’s May Day events—a day of protests co-organized by the May 1st Movement, Occupy Toronto and No One is Illegal—was a bit anti-climatic. That said, the announcement […]

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Protesters gather at the original occupation of St. James Park. Photo by Todd Aalgaard/Torontoist.

With just four activists speaking to roughly a dozen members of the media (and one confused security guard) from behind a plexiglass podium, this morning’s announcement of the Toronto’s May Day events—a day of protests co-organized by the May 1st Movement, Occupy Toronto and No One is Illegal—was a bit anti-climatic.

That said, the announcement wasn’t without highlights, the major one being a march from Alexandra Park to an undisclosed site for a 24-hour “re-occupation” in the vein of Occupy Toronto, which the press kit called “Occupy the Heart of the Beast.” The next morning, activists will gather outside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to protest Barrick Gold‘s annual general meeting.

“Mining is actually one of Canada’s biggest industries, and it’s played the same role in Canada as have banks in the United States,” said Syed Hussan, a member of No One is Illegal and media liaison for Toronto’s May Day events. “That, to us, seems like a very pertinent moment.”

May 1 is International Workers Day, popularly known as May Day. The day marks the anniversary of the 1886 Haymarket Massacre, in which police in Chicago killed several workers who were striking in support of the eight-hour work day. The holiday, which is not officially recognized in Canada, has traditionally been associated with unions, but has become a rallying point for anti-globalization activists in recent years.

Occupy Toronto’s Lana Goldberg said that May Day is a chance for Torontonians to add to what she views as a growing global sentiment.

“Building on the uprising in North Africa and the Arab world, the indignados of Spain, the battle in Wisconsin and now the inspiring student movement in Quebec, we will march and we will re-occupy, inaugurating the Toronto spring,” she said.

May Day organizers were careful to point out that they aren’t interested in the sort of violence that has characterized some of those uprisings. But they do want people to be inspired by the revolutionary spirit that sparked them.

“We’re focusing on building an exciting, entertaining, family-friendly event, and building involvement in our community,” said Hussan.

In that spirit, several non-traditional protest events have been added to the agenda, the most notable one being Operation Chess Magik.

“It’s a giant chess game that will take place in the heart of downtown Toronto,” said Goldberg. “It’s a creative action that will spark some talk, plus action, about the 1 per cent dominating the 99 per cent.”

May 1st Movement representative Pablo Vivanco says that while May Day is an opportunity for working people to speak out against government budget cuts and austerity measures that affect their daily lives, its goal is bigger.

“This May Day, we’re calling on people to realize the deep political crisis that is capitalism,” he said. “It is becoming increasingly clear from what we are witnessing in places like Spain, Greece, Italy and the United States that shifting the chairs on this boat will not stop it from sinking further.”

For more information on May Day events, search for #May1TO on Twitter.

WHERE: The west side of Nathan Phillips Square WHEN: January 18, 10 p.m. WHAT: In the aftermath of Tuesday’s budget vote and the simultaneous protest in Nathan Phillips Square, a small group of protesters set up camp in the hopes of restarting Occupy Toronto; about a dozen tents are now up near City Hall. One […]

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WHERE: The west side of Nathan Phillips Square

WHEN: January 18, 10 p.m.

WHAT: In the aftermath of Tuesday’s budget vote and the simultaneous protest in Nathan Phillips Square, a small group of protesters set up camp in the hopes of restarting Occupy Toronto; about a dozen tents are now up near City Hall. One camper told Torontoist photographer Corbin Smith that this was a “second go of occupy Toronto” with a smaller, core group of protesters taking up residence in the tents. As for any plans or goals, the protester suggested that they’ll “ride this one out” and see where it takes them.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains—the very best and very worst people, places, things, and ideas that have had an influence on the city over the past twelve months. From December 12–23, the candidates for Mightiest and Meanest—and new this year, a reader’s write-in option! From December 26–29 you’ll be […]

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Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains—the very best and very worst people, places, things, and ideas that have had an influence on the city over the past twelve months. From December 12–23, the candidates for Mightiest and Meanest—and new this year, a reader’s write-in option! From December 26–29 you’ll be able to vote for Toronto’s Superhero and Supervillain of the year, and we’ll reveal the results December 30.

Although some new movement may phoenix from the ashes of the sacred fire in St. James Park, this round of Occupy Toronto has failed. However, failure alone doesn’t qualify it for villain status. OT is a villain because while the issues it raised matter, Occupy’s ham-handed tactics and absurd overconfidence will make it tougher for next-gen protesters to gain traction with the public.

The global Occupy movement has already been parsed ad nauseum and deemed everything from catalyst for global revolution to soon-to-be-forgotten fizzle. In fact, it’s a bastard child of the internet age and Warhol’s dictum—of the idea that it’s enough to be seen, to be celebrated, to make the leap (however briefly) from Twitter and YouTube to CNN and CBC.

Occupy was good at generating the kind of memes and catchphrases that draw clicks; if they’d invested in some photogenic kittens, bongo beats would be echoing through our parks yet. But by eschewing rational organization, and replacing leadership with crowd-sourced decision making, Occupy undermined its own foundations before the cement had even dried. The invention of the hyperlink didn’t change the human dynamic that evolved on the Serengeti plain and that has shaped human achievement ever since. Achieving goals takes more than tents and goodwill; it requires planning and a place for the buck to stop.

All the excesses observed in Occupy globally were evident in Toronto. No coherent message ever emerged from the movement, in spite of frequent, self-important updates that often verged on parody. The occupation’s dirty laundry was (figuratively) aired in public, with aboriginal and anarchist splinter groups marching off to the beat of their own drummers. And, as elsewhere, the public dialogue eventually devolved into a debate on the “who” and the “where” of the occupation rather than the “why” of it.

Granted, Canucks had a harder row to hoe than some. Unlike the original Occupy Wall Street movement, which could focus its outrage on the criminal actions of U.S. investment banks, Canadian protesters faced off against a banking system that had behaved relatively benignly during the financial crisis. And while the Occupation bete noir, income inequality, has increased in Canada, it has yet to achieve the banana republic levels seen in the U.S.

But by relying on tired sloganeering about “corporate greed” instead of promoting a path to practical change, the self-styled 99 per cent alienated what could have been their core constituency: the disenfranchised middle class, watching the world lurch from one crisis to another and wondering how to hold onto their their jobs, their homes, their identity.

Polls showed this group as generally well-disposed to the occupiers, but that sympathy never translated into retro Adidas on the pavement, let alone a Winter Palace moment. Ultimately the disgruntled bourgeoisie were unmoved by the sideshow of yurts and port-a-potties that came to symbolize the occupation.

And hence the villainy. No matter what the alt-press told you, the robber barons never broke a sweat worrying about the park-dwellers, and the media-friendly spectacle that got the Occupation attention wasn’t enough to give it credibility. And that’s an opportunity squandered, and an important message discredited with those who should be embracing it.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains—the very best and very worst people, places, things, and ideas that have influenced the city over the past 12 months. From December 12–23, the candidates for Mightiest and Meanest—and new this year, a reader’s write-in option! From December 26–29 you’ll be able to vote […]

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Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains—the very best and very worst people, places, things, and ideas that have influenced the city over the past 12 months. From December 12–23, the candidates for Mightiest and Meanest—and new this year, a reader’s write-in option! From December 26–29 you’ll be able to vote for Toronto’s Superhero and Supervillain of the year, and we’ll reveal the results December 30.

On October 15, 2011, what started as a month-long occupation of Zuccotti Park in New York City moved to Toronto and elsewhere in Canada, and there were more than a few Torontonians with misgivings about the whole thing.

To an extent, it’s understandable. For one, it all felt a little copycat at first, as if local movements were trying to ride the coattails of another, more prominent demonstration grabbing headlines south of the border. For another: well, it had been a pretty terribleyear-plus by that point for local progressives, and imagining what good an occupied park could do was almost laughable. With the status quo being what it is, not just municipally but also federally, what, really, would be the point of holding down St. James Park until the police came knocking?

But when we showed up at St. James Park that first weekend, the scene itself suggested more than arbitrary squatting. This wasn’t a demonstration; it was more of an intentional community, the organic result of solidarity having taken a more substantive form. A refrain since the start of the Occupy movement has been that those participating have no concrete issue around which to galvanize, no single message to influence the public. Yet the presence of the encampment as an actual community—organized as such, largely self-contained, and manifest as an alternative to the austerity-era machinery of society beyond the park—was statement enough.

A couple of weeks later, Stephen Lewis and Michele Landsberg were the keynote speakers at this year’s David Lewis Lecture. It was a spirited, sometimes humourous discussion at the Bloor Street United Church, with Lewis and Landsberg addressing the challenges facing Canadian progressives. Recalling the revolutionary events that have paralleled her career, Landsberg drew a comparison between the women’s movement and what she had seen herself at St. James Park. “They have a demand all right,” Landsberg asserted, sometimes struggling to keep her voice even. “An end to the inequality and the hopelessness that capitalism has foisted.”

Lewis agreed. “I’m sure that this movement is highly significant,” he said, praising how the Occupy movement, and particularly its local extension, had changed the conversation. Now, he said, politicians and bankers are forced to talk about inequality. “We will not recognize the Canada that exists in 2020,” he said, exhorting progressives to do what he suggested Occupy has done: “Grit your teeth and go after these neanderthals and philistines.”

Ultimately, the true heroism of Occupy Toronto as an adjunct of a global movement may not be known for some time. But what’s evident today, more than how muddy and swamp-like St. James Park was until recently, is that Toronto and many other communities around the world are under the heel of governments intent on punishing the public, forcing us to clean up a mess we didn’t make. Occupy Toronto may have annoyed a lot of neighbours with its first volley of direct action, but in the long run that annoyance has forced a critically vital discussion about social justice into the mainstream.

And if nothing else, Occupy Toronto has created an infrastructure for resistance at a time when resistance is as necessary as breathing. If it takes a few occupied parks to get people talking, so be it.

WHERE: St. James Park, at King and Church streets WHEN: 12–1 p.m. today WHAT: One of the major arguments the City of Toronto made when it went to court to get permission to evict the Occupy Toronto camp from St. James Park was that they needed to prepare the park for winter. They also, once […]

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WHERE: St. James Park, at King and Church streets

WHEN: 12–1 p.m. today

WHAT: One of the major arguments the City of Toronto made when it went to court to get permission to evict the Occupy Toronto camp from St. James Park was that they needed to prepare the park for winter. They also, once that eviction took place, needed to repair the damage caused by weeks of camping. Though there was some heated political rhetoric about the tens of thousands of dollars this would cost the good taxpayers of Toronto (free speech apparently being great so long as it doesn’t cost us anything), as it turns out it didn’t cost a dime: Landscape Ontario and the Nursery Sod Growers of Ontario donated both the sod (12 tractor trailers–worth) and the labour needed to lay it. That process was completed today, and by early afternoon the much-lamented dog-owners were back in the park, walking their pooches once more.

Dave Vasey is what one might call a seasoned protester; he was arrested twice during the G20 protests (“I was the G20 fence guy,” he explains with a low chuckle), and had been camping at the Occupy Toronto protest site at St. James Park from the camp’s mid-October setup until last week’s eviction. While the […]

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November 23 in Nathan Phillips Square: Occupy Toronto gathers for their regular general assembly for the first time since being evicted from St. James Park.

Dave Vasey is what one might call a seasoned protester; he was arrested twice during the G20 protests (“I was the G20 fence guy,” he explains with a low chuckle), and had been camping at the Occupy Toronto protest site at St. James Park from the camp’s mid-October setup until last week’s eviction. While the physical campsite may no longer exist, Vasey is still moved by the unique convergence of people and interests he witnessed there.

“It was one of the more interesting spaces I’ve ever been in,” he says. “The organizing was, like, everyone. Nationalists, anarchists, Marxists, libertarians, atheists, hippies, white middle-class kids, inner-city community folks, homeless—it was a crazy space of interaction and conversation. You were never bored at Occupy, that’s for sure.”

It’s a diversity that Vasey hopes will continue as the movement moves on—and move it will, he says, in spite of losing a designated physical gathering space. Rallies have taken place in the days following the park’s clearing, and more public actions are in the works. Protesters are looking ahead, in spite of the post-eviction sting.
“In a way it kind of feels like there was a bit of a defeat,” Vasey acknowledges. “But marginalized people throughout the world—and we’re working with some of the most marginalized people in Toronto—don’t have that ability to give up. So we’ve got to keep going and building the resistance. We’re challenging power here. In a non-violent way, but in a firm way.”

“People are taking back a lot of different public spaces,” says Rebecca Granovsky-Larsen, a York University graduate student who was an occasional camper at Occupy and helped to run the site’s Free Skool, a centre for wide-ranging skill-shares and facilitated discussions. “For example, the University of Toronto students are organizing a whole series of events and possible occupations of public spaces.”

Public space reclamation continues to be a primary goal within the movement, in addition to rallies and discussion. “Hopefully we’re working towards a re-occupation,” says Vasey, but he admits the logistics are fuzzy; it’s still unclear whether the re-occupation will be immediate or held off until the spring, and where it would take place.

Despite the uncertainties plaguing the protesters, community support continues.”We’re still planning on coming out to a lot of events,” says Jesse Ovadia, a member of the Toronto chapter of Rhythms of Resistance, an international network of drumming groups that plays at demonstrations and direct actions and, locally, has been closely involved with Occupy.

“We’ve all organized together to come out and support at different events. We were out there at the beginning on the first day, and came out roughly once a week to help out and play music for the group. We attended a bunch of the rallies and the marches that they went on to help energize.”

While Ovadia can’t say what exactly is next for the movement, he knows Rhythms of Resistance will remain present. “We expect that in the next phase, we’ll still be involved.”

Vasey, too, remains optimistic about the next phase—whatever that may end up looking like. “We’re going to continue to build and grow,” he says.

With the eviction of Occupy Toronto, St. James Park will gradually return to its former, emptier condition. But the temporary landscaping changes the protesters created with their signs, tents, and yurts did not constitute the first physical redesign of the park. Over the course of the past 50 years, as this gallery shows, the site […]

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A man enjoys two forms of sunshine in St. James Park during the late 1970s. The park was partly conceived to provide a spot for office workers to relax during their lunch hour. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 200, Series 1465, File 302, Item 4.

With the eviction of Occupy Toronto, St. James Park will gradually return to its former, emptier condition. But the temporary landscaping changes the protesters created with their signs, tents, and yurts did not constitute the first physical redesign of the park. Over the course of the past 50 years, as this gallery shows, the site has gone from housing 19th-century commercial buildings to Victorian-inspired landscaping.

Despite fears that police would move aggressively against the Occupy Toronto camp in St. James Park, today’s early morning move by officers to begin clearing out the tents has been markedly slow, measured, and calm. “The most polite assertion of fascism I’ve ever seen,” cracked one protester—and indeed officers have been saying “please” a lot […]

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Protesters keeping things calm around 7 a.m. this morning.

Despite fears that police would move aggressively against the Occupy Toronto camp in St. James Park, today’s early morning move by officers to begin clearing out the tents has been markedly slow, measured, and calm. “The most polite assertion of fascism I’ve ever seen,” cracked one protester—and indeed officers have been saying “please” a lot this morning.

The police presence is substantial—officers arrived in several buses, many cruisers, on bikes, and in a mobile command vehicle—but has been characterized by all as very civil. Though it’s too soon to tell how this will end, especially since a knot of protesters is still surrounding the library yurt and expressing their determination to stay, events so far have been reassuring to many in and out of the park, at least temporarily quelling fears of a repeat of G20 violence.

Police have reassured Occupiers that they will be able to return to the park and continue their political protest once the camp has been dismantled, and a general assembly is planned, as usual, for noon today.

We’ll be providing ongoing coverage of events in St. James Park throughout the day.
Follow along at our liveblog.